by Eliza Collins, USA TODAY

by Eliza Collins, USA TODAY

Three miniature therapy horses are making their own small contribution to the healing underway in Newtown, Conn.

The horses, about the size of large golden retrievers, are from Florida-based charity Gentle Carousel. The goal is to offer comfort to members of a community staggered by the horrific shootings last month at Sandy Hook Elementary School that left 20 children and six adults dead.

The horses - Wakanda, Aladdin and Magic - and six charity volunteers traveled north at the request of several Newtown residents. Debbie Garcia-Bengochea, Gentle Carousel's director of education, said she remembers one family's request in particular.

"There are some calls you just can't say no to," she said. "So we said yes and figured out how to make it happen."

Beryl Harrison, assistant director at Newtown's Booth Library, hosted a children's program with the horses and said the excitement surrounding the event seemed like the beginning of a return to normalcy.

"It just seemed as though it was typical - chaotic. And it just seemed like a step forward" after weeks of grieving, said Harrison, whose library has had therapy dogs in the children's room almost every day since the shooting.

The horses and volunteers have spent time with Newtown residents each day, at both public and private events. The two-week visit will wrap up Thursday.

Gentle Carousel is an entirely volunteer group that visits more than 18,000 people a year. The horses work with terminally ill, abused and disabled children and adults.

Magic is the star - she was voted one of Time Magazine's 10 most heroic animals of all time in 2011, based on her visit to a patient in an assisted-living facility who hadn't spoken in three years. Garcia-Bengochea says that moments after the horse came into the room, the woman spoke - she continues to speak to this day.

Sunday, the group met with families of the Sandy Hook victims. Though every reaction is different, Garcia-Bengochea says the horses help people to process their emotions.